Children of the Nile

I baught the game a while back but I've really started playing it now, I'm on the first senarios and my city is doing well. However I want to expand out into the map further but I'm not terribly sure how to do it. Once I have an established settlement, say on the other side of the river nile from where my main city is, my nobles and government works won't stick to their posts. For instance, My scribes when in charge of assessing taxes will often go to the farms that are on the other side of the map as opposed to the as yet to be counted crops right on their doorstep which means he ends up getting nothing done. It's the same with exchanges too.and often all of my government workers such as Scribes and Commanders and them lot, will go to noble parties on the other side of town meaning they aren't tending their jobs at all, even if there are noble houses in their own area. Is there a way to balance this out so that making new settlments further out into the game map is workable? Forgive me if I'm missing something tiny but I'm new to this game.